Akwaaaba!

So, I have made it to Accra, after a 1/3 full plane ride from Milan to Lagos and then to Accra. Right before the flight boarded in Milan I was woken up byu a woman who had also fallen asleep and wanted to make sure i didnt miss the flight either. she was coming from D.C. en route to Sierra Leone where she was trying to make it to her mother's funeral. Unfortunately the flight from DC to NYC was late, missing her connection  JFK-Accra so she was stuck flying through Milan. Anyway, we had a good laugh about sleeping and missing teh flight with another woman in the same situation who seemed like a well-traveled american.

after our relaxed trip on the plane (people were walking around, hanging out, laughing, the stewards were passing out extra food) we arrive in Accra and i rush off the plane and head to immigration. i give the immigration officer my passport and the piece of paper that was signed by the immigration official allowing me to get my visa upon arrival. the officer asks me where i am staying and i have no idea except the name of the neighborhood so i tell him i dont know. that doesnt bode well so he sends me over to another guy and as im walking there the woman (the well-traveled american type) who happened to be next to me at another booth tells me to write 'novotel' on where im sitting and gives me her card in case i get hasseled. it turns out that she is working for USAID and i had just been reading docs they sent me with her name mentioned numerous times.

the guard asks me where i am staying and i have no idea except the name of the neighborhood so i tell him i dont know

anyway, the end of the story is i go to a little room and another immigration guy stamps my passport and im on my way (i was told beforehand that i would have to pay $100, but i thought it wise not to wave my money around and i ended up paying nothing).

the driver is waiting outside for me with a big sign with my name and we get to my house and the nightguard has to help me unlock my own door. the house is nice, bigish and i take the master bedroom with a huge kingsize bed and adjacent bathroom and airconditioning and dehumidifier. i cant sleep very well bc it creeps me out that a) there are no bugs anywhere b) the airconditioning makes me sketched out bc you cant hear anything outside or in my own house c) im jetlegged.

i make it through the night, however, and am before i am picked up by Paul, someone i will be working with throughout my internship who is a (the?) director of the Trade and Investment Office, i meet eric, who tells me he is the gardener, which is funny  because he also was just sitting around not gardening. anyway, i learn later gardener/guard are the same thing...

Paul takes me to the garage sale he is working at and introduces me to his wife and his kids. they are all very nice and she takes me to have  breakfast, get a cellphone up and running (im borrowing theirs), going to the grocery store. we then go back and get the kids and go to this great salad/sandwich place for lunch and to a fruit stand so i can buy some fruit too. i ask lots of questions.

i learn that there is going to be major currency devaluation next month (to chop of some of the zeros at the end of all the cedis ie: $1 = 9200 cedis) and there will be a electricity de-subsidization in 2 months which paul says will mean some riots.

when i get back to my house that afternoon i spend awhile talking to Eric (the gardener) about the currency devaluation, about Twi (he teaches me some words) and about ghanaian music. he ends up giving me his radio before he leaves sunday so i can listen to music until monday, which was nice. he is a ghanaian USAID employee and knows the house like the back of his hand and so he shows me around and gives me some tips.

that night i offered to babysit for Paul and Julia, as their maid is unreachable this weekend and its really the least i can do. plus, are really nice and so i watch their satellite tv and eat pizza and check my email.

now today is sunday and i walked around the neighborhood (only white person walking around not in a car or jeeplike thing) until i found this internet cafe in this hotel down the street.

i start work tomorrow at 7am and it looks like i may get a pass to the gym across the street from teh new US embassy that is being built and all US gov orgs will move into throughout the summer (minus the peace corps). i am not sure when the other girls in my house arrive, i hope soon. i plan on sharing the price of a housekeeper with them so there is someone in teh house and so she can help me/us with things like where to buy fruits and vegetables, how much it should cost etc. etc.

oh, and it is suuuuper humid here. the water purifier simply takes the humidity out of the air and purifies it and thats how i drink my water - which is amazing.

my room and the room next to me has a huge wrap-around porch/deck on the second floor and we have a huge backyard that paul tells me is great for parties. although im not going to the beach this week, i may go next week and i am going to call some people i know once i get my cell back (arrg i left it at their house after babysitting). the two of them were impressed that i am not shell-shocked here, but i have been here before and although i do not know my way around, much reminds me of brazil esp the northeast that its not completely new (though i must remember its not the same).

its an interesting change - bc i am here for three months i have to semi carve a life out for me which is a new and fun challenge.

my neighborhood is definitely "leafy" (as all the guidebooks say) and feels safe except i stand out a bit i think when i walk around (at least today-sunday) but ex-pats in the hood walk their dogs etc., so im not too crazy. there is a busier/commerical area not too far from my house walking too, but obv today its not bustling.

ps. so, i was creeped out by the lack of bugs (my house is really well screened)... today i found my first bug as i was biting into a mango piece - a little beetle.